Iceland

I am writing this in Keflavik airport, and I hate it here. Luckily we will be leaving soon. Let us speak no more about it. Instead, let me tell you about Iceland and the Future.

Iceland was gorgeous. Majestic and stark and frightening and beautiful. I am much obliged to Icebike Adventures who took us on two wonderful trips on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially our guides Rúnar and Lárus. A+ experience. Here is me and Rúnar trackstanding on a sandstone ridge dragon’s spine:

(Photo: Wonderful Mother.)

Seriously, Iceland is not so much a land where dragons live, it is a land that dragons are. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

And Exhibit C:

On Tuesday evening we rode past some thermal vents (pictured above), and WM exclaimed “This is what inspired myths about dragons, not dinosaur bones!” I don’t think she’s wrong.

This trip also marked another milestone: my first time on horseback since Emmy died. We went riding with Eld Hestar (VOLCANO HORSES) and had a wonderful guide, Anina, who introduced me to Gráman, who taught me how to tölt. It was very fun and very different from any other kind of riding I had ever done and I only cried a little bit. Here we are together:

Looking to the future, next week I return to my backlog of publishing projects that I left behind at the beginning of the month. But I have been inspired and encouraged by the enthusiasm of the readers I met at WorldCon, and look forward to putting together the best books I can as promptly as I can. You can look forward to a new issue of Apsis Fiction, the second volume of Bouragner Felpz, Wheel 1 of Driving Arcana, plus some new Professor Odd singles and… hopefully sooner rather than later… some original novels. Going to be good times.

As far as convention appearances, I’ll be attending Rose City Comic Con in Portland OR September 8-10. This is largely an experiment to see if it would be a good fit to exhibit at, and also an excuse to visit Portland. My final con of the year will be World Fantasy in San Antonio TX, November, where I’ll be under the banner of Heliopause Productions in the Dealer’s Room, with new originals in the art show. They haven’t published their program yet, so I do not know what (if any) panels/readings/etc. I’ll be on. I expect I’ll announce it on Twitter later.

It’s early days yet, but for 2018 Further Confusion is looking like a lock-in, as is World Con 76 (both in San Jose, would ya know!) and of course I’ll be at AnthroCon, as always. Of less certainty, but something I’m hoping for, is Biggest Little Fur Con (Reno NV, in May) and Norwescon (Seattle WA, at the end of March). Of these five, only AnthroCon would necessitate a flight, something I am intensely happy about.

Anyway, here’s a parting shot of Iceland. See you when I get back to my own volcanos.